Murphy Radio 1944

At one stage during the war it was estimated that up to a million sets were out of service due to lack of service engineers or unavailability of components and parts.  The situation was relieved to a degree by the importation of foreign sets, particularly from the USA, however the Government realised that this situation could not continue so looked for other ways to increase supply.  The result was a single design of receiver that would be built by all radio manufacturers.  Named the “Civilian Wartime Receiver”, it was available in a mains and battery version.  Designed for medium wave reception only, it aimed to offer a satisfactory and reliable performance using the minimum of components and labour.  The cabinet was constructed from inexpensive wood, according to a design by the British Radio Cabinet Makers’ Association.  The Civilian Wartime Receiver was built by 42 different manufacturers, and each manufacturer was allocated a code number commencing U. The “U” numbers were known only to the wireless Trade, and enabled service engineers to identify who had made the receiver, as although the design was standard, some manufacturers incorporated minor modifications. The valves for the set were made by most of the current manufacturers, and no makers name was placed on the valve.  However it was possible to tell who made the valve from a code number known to the Trade, which enabled replacements under guarantee to be made. Dr G.D. Reynolds from Murphy Radio designed the set, and some 175,000 were sold before cessation of hostilities. Murphy Civilian Wartime Receivers were designated U7, and featured a valve line up of 21x, 24x, 26x & 27x, where x is the manufacturer’s code number.  For reference purposes these valves are electrically similar to UU5, OM6, EL33, OM10. 

Further details and pictures of the Civilian Wartime Receiver may be found here, together with the manufacturer and valve codes here.

 Full range introduced from 1944 

Battery version also produced.

       Fig 1     

Continue to 1945 

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